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In the end, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay can say or tweet whatever he wants. He’s the guy who cuts the checks, including roughly $140 million for free agents during this free-spending summer. On that score, nobody denies him his right to share his opinion.

I also have the right to criticize him.

I also have the right to question his mindset this past week, the right to wonder what inspired the latest erratic and irresponsible tweets that have made local headlines.

I have the right to wonder whether Irsay, who has done such a great job avoiding the mistakes of his father, isn’t ultimately turning into his father — although he’s got a long, long way to go on that front.

I write with this caveat: Irsay is one of the best owners in American professional sports. He hires the best people and lets them do what they do best. He knows the game, having grown up in it and having been a general manager himself; this is not a side business, as it is for so many other owners. He has always been willing to spend in order to win, and that was on massive display this summer when he opened the checkbook for General Manager Ryan Grigson.

We are on very friendly terms, as journalists and team owners go, our football conversations usually turning into riffs on the beat poets or Hunter Thompson or music.

Because I like him and respect him, I don’t want him to turn into his dad, who was an alcoholic and a tyrant and drove his organization crazy with his vodka-fueled, reckless behavior. Consider it a friendly nudge in the ribs.

A review:

After the Colts’ 44-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills, Irsay tweeted, “Many starters played briefly or were nursing little injuries,but it was a crap performance,my apologies/My commanders got n earful from me!’’

Seriously?

After a preseason game?

I realize he spent a lot of money this offseason, but a lot of those investments never saw the field last week. By now, Irsay knows, or should know, that preseason football is utterly meaningless. During the Tony Dungy years, the Colts couldn’t get out of their own way in the preseason, then ripped off 11- and 12-win seasons year after year. A reminder: The Detroit Lions were 4-0 the year they went 0-16 in the regular season.

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If Irsay wants to scream about a crap performance after the third preseason game — that’s the game they plan for and use the starters for a half — then fine, tweet away.

But a first game, especially one against a rebuilding Buffalo team that played lots of its starters the entire first half?

Big. Bleeping. Deal.

We asked coach Chuck Pagano if he took preseason results as seriously as his team’s owner apparently does, and he tap-danced around the question in a manner that said, “I’m not falling into that trap.”

My guess is the coaches and administrators looked at that tweet, shrugged their shoulders and thought, “Is he out of his mind? It’s preseason.”

The veterans like linebacker Robert Mathis know it’s preseason, and preseason means nothing unless you’re fighting for a roster spot.

“He’s the keeper of the brand,” Mathis said. “He’s the protector of the shoe and that’s his job. He’s the boss and what are you going to say?”

That, however, wasn’t enough in this free-tweeting week for Irsay. My guess is he saw a couple of tweets — which he gets every time this year — decrying the fact the NFL charges regular-season prices for preseason games. Irsay tried to defend the practice, which is almost as fruitless as trying to defend a mass murderer.

“That’s the reason Season tic prices shouldn’t even have a tic price on individual tics..The 10 home game tics have varying value”

And:

“N the end it’s fair/U R NOT paying full price for pre-Season games..no more you’ re not paying full,but under-prized 4 Texan/ Broncos,etc”

Well, that should make all the ticket-buyers feel better about what they pay for preseason football.

Or maybe not.

Sounds like a used car salesman.

There is no defending the NFL rule that forces teams to charge full freight for preseason games. It’s an absolute scam. It’s price-gouging at its worst. But here’s Irsay trying to defend it, and doing so for reasons I can’t even begin to fathom. Seriously, if you want to win over your fans, don’t try to tell them they’re getting quite a deal by paying full price to watch 17 guys sit on the sideline and Andrew Luck play for two series. Not going to go over well.

In a general sense, I love the fact Irsay is one of the few owners in sports who has adopted Twitter as a mode of conversation. He’s funny, he’s weird and he reaches out to the fan base. He’s got a huge following, and for a good reason beyond Abby’s Hatpick.

But I’ve learned this lesson several times the hard way, and I’m happy to pass it along to Irsay: